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Month: November 2018

Doctor Don Trunkey, a giant of a man physically and world renowned in the arena of trauma surgery, became a colleague, a mentor, and a friend as we served together during Gulf War I – Desert Storm. Doctor Trunkey was the Chief of Professional Services and the Chief of Surgery of the 50th General Hospital as the unit deployed from Fort Lewis Washington to Saudi Arabia in January 1991. I was assigned as a thoracic/general surgeon, working under Doctor Trunkey ‘s direction during the deployment. We served at the Riyadh Military Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

One evening, in early February 1991, I was the surgeon on
call. Following a SCUD missile attack I was called to the emergency room at
0300 hours to see a very ill VIP – LTG John Yeosock, Commander of the Third US
Army. General Yeosock was suffering from acute cholecystitis and needed urgent
gallbladder surgery. Because of General
Yeosock’s senior command status, I asked Dr. Trunkey to come to the emergency
room to perform a second opinion. Doctor Trunkey concurred with my diagnosis
and recommended gallbladder surgery for the general as well. General Yeosock
was devastated by the news as he shortly would be commanding all the Third Army
Forces for the upcoming ground war portion of Desert Storm.

General Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of all coalition forces,
when notified of General Yeosock’s illness, began the search for a replacement
commander. I had worked under General Yeosock as the Division Surgeon in1980
when he was Colonel Yeosock, the Chief of Staff for the Division. Because I had developed a great working relationship
with him during that division surgeon assignment, he felt comfortable conveying
to me how heartbroken he was about possibly losing his Third Army Command.

I immediately spoke to Doctor Trunkey who took charge of the
situation. He made an appointment to
speak to General Schwarzkopf. These two giants of men spoke eye to eye in the
General’s office, Doctor Trunkey assured General Schwarzkopf that we could
operate on General Yeosock and have him ready for full duty in less than a week. Although initially quite skeptical, General
Schwarzkopf finally agreed to the plan.

Because of security concerns, General Schwarzkopf assigned
his aircraft to fly General Yeosock and the medical team to Germany to have the
operative procedure completed. Because
this was just prior to the days of routine laproscopic gallbladder surgery,
Doctor Trunkey stated that we would do the procedure through a mini incision
and then use an epidural catheter for pain control.

Doctor Trunkey and I completed the operative procedure in
less than an hour and the General did well. In four days General Yeosock walked
off the aircraft and reported to General Schwarzkopf that he was ready for full
duty. In a few days the General would
successfully command the Third Army in the biggest tank battle in history.